Chronological Plan

¹The word of the LORD which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

²When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife inclined to infidelity, and children of infidelity; for the land commits flagrant infidelity, abandoning the LORD.”

³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴And the LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.

⁵On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer take pity on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.

⁷But I will take pity on the house of Judah and save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

⁸When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.

⁹And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, because you are not My people, and I am not your God.”

¹⁰Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or counted; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

¹¹And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For the day of Jezreel will be great.

¹Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”

²“Dispute with your mother, dispute, Because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; But she must remove her infidelity from her face And her adultery from between her breasts,

³Otherwise, I will strip her naked And expose her as on the day she was born. I will also make her like a wilderness, Make her like desert land, And put her to death with thirst.

⁴Also, I will take no pity on her children, Because they are children of infidelity.

⁵For their mother has committed prostitution; She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

⁶Therefore, behold, I will obstruct her way with thorns, And I will build a stone wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.

⁷And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, Because it was better for me then than now!’

⁸“Yet she does not know that it was I myself who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, And lavished on her silver and gold, Which they used for Baal.

⁹Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time And My new wine in its season. I will also take away My wool and My flax That I gave to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰So now I will uncover her lewdness Before the eyes of her lovers, And no one will rescue her from My hand.

¹¹I will also put an end to all her joy, Her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, And all her festivals.

¹²And I will destroy her vines and fig trees, Of which she said, ‘They are my wages for prostitution Which my lovers have given me.’ And I will turn them into a forest, And the animals of the field will devour them.

¹³I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her nose ring and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the LORD.

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I am going to persuade her, Bring her into the wilderness, And speak kindly to her.

¹⁵Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will respond there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she went up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶And it will come about on that day,” declares the LORD, “That you will call Me my husband And no longer call Me my Baal.

¹⁷For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will no longer be mentioned by their names.

¹⁸On that day I will also make a covenant for them With the animals of the field, The birds of the sky, And the crawling things of the ground. And I will eliminate the bow, the sword, and war from the land, And will let them lie down in safety.

¹⁹I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In favor and in compassion,

²⁰And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD.

²¹“And it will come about on that day that I will respond,” declares the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth,

²²And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine, and to the oil, And they will respond to Jezreel.

²³I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

¹Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet is committing adultery, as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

²So I purchased her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and a homer and a lethech of barley.

³Then I said to her, “You shall live with me for many days. You shall not play the prostitute, nor shall you have another man; so I will also be toward you.”

⁴For the sons of Israel will live for many days without a king or leader, without sacrifice or memorial stone, and without ephod or household idols.

⁵Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

¹Listen to the word of the LORD, you sons of Israel, Because the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, For there is no faithfulness, nor loyalty, Nor knowledge of God in the land.

²There is oath-taking, denial, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the animals of the field and the birds of the sky, And even the fish of the sea disappear.

⁴Yet let no one find fault, and let no one rebuke; For your people are like those who contend with a priest.

⁵So you will stumble by day, And the prophet also will stumble with you by night; And I will destroy your mother.

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Since you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children.

⁷The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.

⁸They feed on the sin of My people, And long for their wrongdoing.

⁹And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.

¹⁰They will eat, but not have enough; They will play the prostitute, but not increase, Because they gave up devoting themselves to the LORD.

¹¹Infidelity, wine, and new wine take away the understanding.

¹²My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of infidelity has led them astray, And they have been unfaithful, departing from their God.

¹³They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains And burn incense on the hills, Under oak, poplar, and terebinth, Because their shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, And your brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, Or your brides when they commit adultery, Because the men themselves slip away with the prostitutes And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So the people without understanding are ruined.

¹⁵Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, Judah must not become guilty; Also you are not to go to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth-aven And take the oath: “As the LORD lives!”

¹⁶Since Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn cow, Will the LORD now pasture them Like a lamb in a large field?

¹⁷Ephraim is allied with idols; Leave him alone.

¹⁸Their liquor is gone, They prostitute themselves continually; Their rulers dearly love shame.

¹⁹The wind wraps them in its wings, And they will be put to shame because of their sacrifices.

¹Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, house of Israel! Listen, you of the house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, Because you have been a trap at Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

²And the rebels have gone deep in depravity, But I will discipline all of them.

³I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; Because now, Ephraim, you have been unfaithful, Israel has defiled itself.

⁴Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of infidelity is within them, And they do not know the LORD.

⁵Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him, And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their wrongdoing; Judah also has stumbled with them.

⁶They will go with their flocks and herds To seek the LORD, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.

⁷They have dealt treacherously with the LORD, For they have given birth to illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their land.

⁸Blow the horn in Gibeah, And the trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven: “Behind you, Benjamin!”

⁹Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is trustworthy.

¹⁰The leaders of Judah have become like those who displace a boundary marker; On them I will pour out My anger like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, broken by judgment, Because he was determined to follow man’s command.

¹²Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim, And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

¹³When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his sore, Ephraim then went to Assyria And sent word to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your sore.

¹⁴For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, yes I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be no one to rescue.

¹⁵I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their distress they will search for Me.

¹“Come, let’s return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

²He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.

³So let’s learn, let’s press on to know the LORD. His appearance is as sure as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, As the spring rain waters the earth.”

⁴What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud, And like the dew which goes away early.

⁵Therefore I have cut them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that shines.

⁶For I desire loyalty rather than sacrifice, And the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But like Adam they have violated the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously with Me.

⁸Gilead is a city of wrongdoers, Tracked with bloody footprints.

⁹And as a band of robbers lie in wait for a person, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Certainly they have committed an act of infamy.

¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; Ephraim’s infidelity is there, Israel has defiled itself.

¹¹Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.

¹When I would heal Israel, The wrongdoing of Ephraim is uncovered, And the evil deeds of Samaria, For they practice deception; The thief enters, A band of robbers attack outside,

²And they do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds surround them; They are before My face.

³With their wickedness they make the king happy, And the officials with their lies.

⁴They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker, Who stops stoking the fire From the time the dough is kneaded until it is leavened.

⁵On the day of our king, the officials became sick with the heat of wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers,

⁶For their hearts are like an oven As they approach their plotting; Their anger smolders all night, In the morning it burns like flaming fire.

⁷All of them are hot like an oven, And they consume their rulers; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.

⁸Ephraim is himself thrown about with the nations; Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.

⁹Strangers devour his strength, Yet he does not know it; Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, Yet he does not know it.

¹⁰Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, Yet they have not returned to the LORD their God, Nor have they sought Him, despite all this.

¹¹So Ephraim has become like a gullible dove, without sense; They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

¹²When they go, I will spread My net over them; I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will discipline them in accordance with the proclamation to their assembly.

¹³Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me! Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me! I would redeem them, but they have spoken lies against Me.

¹⁴And they do not cry to Me from their heart When they wail on their beds; For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn against Me.

¹⁵Although I trained and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me.

¹⁶They turn, but not upward, They are like a loose bow; Their officials will fall by the sword Because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.